Andrew Donskov (editor) - Tolstoy and Tolstaya: A Portrait of a Life in Letters

To my children and grandchildren

an unceasing source of happiness and inspiration with an

unconditional love for their father and Dedi

Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya and Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA PRESS, 2017

All rights reserved.

The University of Ottawa Press gratefully acknowledges the support extended to its publishing list by Heritage Canada through the Canada Book Fund, by the Canada Council for the Arts, by the Ontario Arts Council, by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through its Aid to Scholarly Publications Program, and by the University of Ottawa.

Proofreading: Michael Waldin

Layout: Sandra Friesen Design

Cover illustration: Lev Nikolaevich and Sofia Andreevna on their 48th wedding anniversary,

23 September 1910. Photo by S.A. Tolstaya, 1910

Cover design: Martyn Schmoll

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Tolstoy & Tolstaya : a portrait of a life in letters / translated from the Russian by John Woodsworth, Arkadi Klioutchanski & Liudmila Gladkova ; edited and with an introduction by Andrew Donskov.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-7766-2471-6 (hardcover).ISBN 978-0-7766-2472-3

(PDF).ISBN 978-0-7766-2473-0 (EPUB).ISBN 978-0-7766-2474-7 (Kindle)

1. Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910Correspondence. 2. Tolstai`,S. A. (Sofi`Andreevna), 1844-1919Correspondence. 3. Authors,Russian19th centuryCorrespondence. 4. Authors spousesRussianCorrespondence. I. Donskov, Andrew, 1939-, editor II. Woodsworth, John, 1944-, translator III. Klioutchanski, Arkadi, 1965-, translator IV. Gladkova, Liudmila, 1954-, translator. Title: Tolstoy and Tolstaya.

Printed and Bound in Canada, 2017

LEV NIKOLAEVICH TOLSTOY & SOFIA ANDREEVNA TOLSTAYA CORRESPONDENCE

by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya

The present volume as part of my larger multi-tome project of publishing the entire correspondence between Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya in its original Russian draws upon the support of a number of individuals and scholarly institutions in both Canada and Russia.

My first debt of gratitude is to the Tolstoy Museum in Moscow, its Director, Sergej Aleksandrovich Arkhangelov and Deputy Director Natalija Kalinina, for granting us the exclusive rights of translation and publication in English of these most precious materials and illustrations and their helpful consultations throughout.

I am also indebted to Dr. Marina Shcherbakova, Head of the Russian Classical Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of World Literature, for her ongoing support and advice. Thanks especially to Liudmila Gladkova, Senior Researcher and a Deputy Director of the Tolstoy Museum, not to mention a world-renowned specialist on the work of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev. It was my great pleasure to work with her very closely on the annotations, which have indeed enhanced the readers knowledge of the context of these letters, and her participation in the translation process has been invaluable. With no less enthusiasm I thank our good friend Vladimir Ilich Tolstoy, Director of the Yasnaya Polyana Tolstoy Museum Estate and great-great-grandson to Sofia Andreevna and Lev Nikolaevich along with the Museum Estates Head of Research, Dr. Galina Alekseeva for their frequent advice and assistance in facilitating access to rare documentary materials. We are also appreciative of Vladimir Ilichs consent to provide a Foreword to this volume.

On the Canadian side of the Atlantic, I should like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the highly accomplished work of John Woodsworth and Arkadi Klioutchanski, both members of our Slavic Research Group here at the University of Ottawa and laureates of the 2012 Lois Roth Award presented by the Modern Language Association of America for the best translation of a work into English (in this case, Sofia Tolstayas My Life, published in 2010 by the University of Ottawa Press). John Woodsworth, a member of the Literary Translators Association of Canada, not only is widely esteemed for his translation of poetry and literary prose from Russian (including Vladimir Megrs popular 9-volume Ringing Cedars Series), but has also published his own Russian-language poetry, while Arkadi Klioutchanski, a native speaker of Russian, has produced some excellent scholarly work on Tolstoy and is currently completing a manuscript on Dostoevskys The Possessed [Besy]. His participation in the work on the Tolstoy Chronology is much appreciated.

A huge note of thanks is also due my capable assistant Anna Kozlova for her help both in research and in work on the index, mainly in the hallowed halls and archive vaults of the Tolstoy Museum in Moscow, in consultation with notable Tolstoy specialists. I am obliged, too, to Svetlana Astachkina and Tatiana Carter for additional work on the index and manuscript preparation.

In addition, I express my sincere gratitude for the wise counsel and continuing support of Dr. Robert Major, Vice-Rector Academic Emeritus and President of the University of Ottawa Press. To Lara Mainville, Director of the University of Ottawa Press, along with her most capable team Dominike Thomas, Elizabeth Schwaiger, Thierry Black and Sonia Rheault, our appreciation for the enthusiastic assistance they have provided in overseeing all the phases of this challenging undertaking.

Naturally, in a work of this scope, maintaining the delicate balance of fidelity to the original and good English style is a considerable task. I readily acknowledge, however, that the ultimate responsibility for the final product rests on my shoulders alone.

This project has been made possible by the moral and financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Finally, I thank my friend and colleague Dr. Juana Muoz-Liceras, Vice-Dean of Research, Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa, for her encouragement of the whole project.

Map of European Russia (early twentieth century)

appearing in the correspondence

Aleksandrovka(Aleksandrovskij homestead, a.k.a. Protasovo) a small estate owned by LNT adjoining Nik